Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan and the current Archbishop of the Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama have asked the federal government do something urgently to halt the ongoing industrial action by university lecturers as well as stifling fuel scarcity across the country.
Both men spoke to journalists at the official dedication of the building of the Holy Cross Catholic Church Gwarinpa II, in Abuja on Sunday.
Onaiyekan said: “There are too many things you cannot understand about this country. For me, I am not convinced by all the reasons they are given for the fuel scarcity.”
On the amended Electoral Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, the former Archbishop Onaiyekan said that federal government should put any measure in place which will help make the country’s election more credible and transparent.
“We thank Mr. President for signing the Electoral Bill into law. I believe that whatever we can for to make our election better than before, it is welcomed,” he added.
On the ongoing fuel scarcity, Onaiyekan said the country was going through bad times with nothing being done by anybody to stem it.
“There too many things you cannot understand about this country and you don’t hear the truth. For me, I don’t know about you, I am not convinced by any of these stories I am hearing about. It is not possible that millions of litres of bad fuel is imported into this country and nobody has so far been held responsible.
“In other countries, you would have been hearing people either resigning or being arrested. Instead our cars are knocking and nobody is paying us for it. This is part of the situation in Nigeria, that things are not working well,” he said.
Onaiyekan also lamented the resumption of strike by the lecturers, saying that the frequent closure of the universities in the country is a clear sign of that a lot of things have gone bad.
On his part, Kaigama expressed worry over the hardship facing Nigerians which the current fuel scarcity has compounded.
Parish priest of the Holy Cross Catholic church, Rev. Fr. Nwankpuda said that the church building took 14 years to execute.
According to him, from a humble beginning, the church grew from strength to strength until the actualization of a befitting parish building.
